This blog is a series of reflections on China pertaining to the making and usage of its architecture and changing urban environments.

OVER the past 6 years I have spent a considerable amount of time living and working in China. Currently I am undertaking an extensive stay at North China University of Technology in Beijing as a visiting professor in the department of Architecture working primarily in the design studio and collaborating on diverse research projects with local faculty whom I know consider close friends.

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Irma E. Ramirez is a Professor of Architecture at California State Polytechnic University Pomona. She holds a Bachelor of arts in architecture from the University of California Berkeley, a Master of Architecture and a Master of Urban Planning from the University of California Los Angeles. Her experience lies in the areas of housing and urban design with a special focus on Mexico and China.

An Almost Forgotten Beijing Relic...

A few weeks ago I sat in a Pasadena café with a dear colleague, with whom I regretfully have long intervals of absence with, but who inspires my thinking every minute of our encounters.The topic:observations on the struggles of cities in the midst of change.Without giving away more, I begin this phase of research in China by capturing a symbolic urban moment that momentarily gives “hope” in fast moving Beijing.

As I continue to deliberate on the colossal changes, I re-acquaint myself with the moments of the city unrecognizable from one visit to the next.Among many lost historic relics however, there is a miniscule fraction of historic survival in the devastating Chinese development arena.Just beyond the university walls in the Shijinshan District of Bejing west of the city center, amongst fast developing housing complexes racing their westward expansion and eating away at the rural areas, lies a small fragment of a significant Qing Dynasty tomb complex.At the end of what appears to now be a private road and detached from the urban order lies in a now awkward fashion the small building that once housed a stela-like relic rich with engravings.

Somewhat sleepless and jetlagged, I was excited at this finding, led by Zhang Bo. What a hopeful moment of preservation.Zhang Bo, an expert and activist in preservation was excited yet puzzled at not knowing who did the preservation job.He wondered how it was he did not know of this negotiation, but nonetheless expressed his approval of the accuracy of the restoration.

Feeling first optimistic and encouraged, I extracted information from several students and teaching assistants.The more however I realized what this building is a remnant of, my gloom over historic abatement returned giving “hope” once again a place in line.With all due respect to preservationists, as my dear friend Zhang Bo, who works tirelessly to preserve relics around the city, I often feel like their wins seem to be strategic crumbs of the cake.

Certainly I am elated to see this building survive, but the narrative of events is really that of a developer required to preserve this single building of a much larger historic complex to allow for his intrusive razing of the tomb compound.Somewhere below the development lie the actual tombs once demarcated by a compound that may have resembled the now preserved Ming Tombs near the Great Wall at Badaling.

Furthermore, the awkward existence which this building now sits in, carved out of the encroaching city without any real connection to the urban fabric, devoid of landscape or urban articulation that mends its new re-defined territory with the modern, leaves questions as to its real destiny in a maybe not so far away future.

I have yet to take up this discussion with Bo.Certainly if the historic core of “THE” Forbidden City, the greatest national monument of Beijing, has been violated by modern day intrusions (like the Grand National Theatre), then I do believe we have a long way to go with these small accomplishments.Nevertheless, awareness is rising as a new generation of young professionals train in preservation and develop a new mind-set for China…hopefully a not too distant mind-set from now.

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The China that I now has not forgotten about their past, but is definately looking deep into the future. At what point did we forget about the current issues and build like crazy without taking into consideration the historical precedents? At what point will the future architects think about the endangered monuments that we now look at as ruins? I question if the Pyramids will ever crumble, will the Amazon ever run out, will the masses ever join as one again - will we ever vanish from this planet? I leave these questions on my mantle and I peak at them every now + then without an answer. What I am sure of is that I have three human species that are dependent on my success and will try hard to be with them no matter when + where these occurences happen. Only time will tell. Luis Alonso